This invention relates particularly to extraocular lens structures for contact application to the cornea, for wear in place of spectacles.
Conventional contact lenses, be they of the hard or soft variety, are circular, of 12 to 14 mm diameter, and thus cover a relatively large area, approximating the area defined by the perimeter of the iris. They are larger than optically necessary because the only light rays they need accommodate are those permitted by the pupil, and their relatively large area is a source of discomfort because fluid on the cornea is thereby precluded natural flow and circulation; as a consequence, the wearer of contact lenses must accustom himself to relatively frequent removal, cleaning and replacement of his lenses. But if the conventional contact lens were any smaller, it would be virtually incapable of manipulation by the wearer, and it would also be prone to move off-axis, over the corneal surface. Furthermore, liquid and gas-permeable plastics have recently been used, but lenses of such materials tend to build enzyme deposits and present difficulties in regard to cleaning and sterilization.
As far as I am aware, glass has been foreclosed as a contact-lens material, due to its high density and fragility compared to that of plastic materials. And the manufacture of contact lenses has involved plastic-molding techniques where prescription curvatures are derived from a molding cavity, or by lathe-cutting, i.e., they are not expressly not ground into the lens itself. And being circular, there is no way that astigmatism can be corrected through conventional contact lenses because there is no way of identifying orientation parameters of the astigmatism.